GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA—Hours after 15-year-old Omar Khadr was discharged from a military hospital, he was interrogated while sedated and lying on a stretcher by a young army sergeant who would later be convicted of detainee abuse.

A military judge was told for the first time Tuesday that one of Khadr’s interrogators – identified in court only as Interrogator One – pleaded guilty in a court martial for forcing another detainee to roll back and forth on the floor and kiss the boots of his interrogator.

Details of the plea confirm that Interrogator One is former army Sgt. Joshua Claus, who was 21 when he was deployed to Bagram and became Khadr’s chief interrogator.

Claus pleaded guilty in 2005 to the abuse of the unidentified detainee and the assault of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar who later died in custody while in Bagram. He admitted to forcing water down the throat of Dilawar and twisting a hood over the Afghan's head.

Claus is expected to testify by video at Khadr’s pre-trial hearings later this week as a defence witness.

In the only interview he has granted, Claus told the Toronto Star two years ago that he wanted to testify at Khadr’s hearing to clear his name.

“Omar was pretty much my first big case,” he added in the telephone interview. “With Omar, I spent a lot of time trying to understand who he was and what I could say to him or do for him, whether it be to bring him extra food or get a letter out to his family.”

Claus’s testimony is central to Khadr’s defence at these hearings to determine if the Canadian detainee’s self-incriminating statements are dismissed as products of torture, his lawyers say.

“Let’s say this, I don’t think any federal judge in the United States would allow that type of conduct,” Flowers said.

In affidavits detailing the abuse allegations, Khadr refers to Claus as the “young” or “skinny” blond soldier.

“One time before I left, I had my hands chained above my head to the ceiling and the skinny blond interrogator with the tattoo told me that I was lucky that I had been injured, he would know how to ‘treat me,’ meaning he would torture me,” Khadr claims.

On Monday, a military medic testified that he saw a hooded Khadr with his hands chained above his shoulders to the cell bars. The medic, who testified under the pseudonym “Mr. M,” said he raised the hood and saw Khadr crying.

Khadr was shot and captured following a firefight on July 27, 2002 with a U.S. Special Forces team in Afghanistan. The Pentagon alleges that Khadr threw a grenade before his capture that fatally wounded Delta Force soldier Christopher Speer. If convicted in Speer’s death, Khadr faces a life sentence.

Now 23, Khadr was in court Tuesday, appearing relaxed and smiling with lawyers before the proceedings began. He listened somberly to testimony about evidence concerning Bagram.

Tuesday’s testimony about the Bagram interrogation was given by an army master sergeant, identified only in court only as “Interrogator Two,” who was present during Khadr’s questioning by Claus on Aug. 12, 2002. He said the Toronto-born detainee looked “tired and fatigued.”

Interrogator Two said he was there mainly to observe the interrogation and described the techniques used to elicit information as “fear down” (meaning they tried to reduce Khadr’s anxiety), and a method known as “fear of incarceration” (using the threat of a prolonged detention if the detainee doesn’t cooperate).

An army nurse testified later Tuesday that Khadr was brought to Bagram unconscious and intubated the day after the firefight where he was captured.

“When he first came in he was very seriously ill,” Army Col. Donna Hershey said, noting that Khadr was discharged ten days after undergoing his second surgery.

Plea negotiations in the case are reportedly continuing behind the scenes although an early offer of an additional five-year sentence was reportedly turned down by Khadr’s defence.

Any deal would have to be approved by the Convening Authority, a senior Pentagon official responsible for military commissions.

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